HECTF-China Workshop Agenda
Draft Agenda for Human–Elephant Conflict Workshop, Beijing, 10–11th July 2009 ------- Thursday 9th July 2009 0830h–2300h:Check in and register, room assignments, handover of workshop material, informal discussions, etc. 1000h:Workshop Committee and local coordinators meeting Day 1:Friday 10th July 2009 07:00-08:00 Late Registration 0830h: Introductory remarks from Co-chairs/Ravi, focussing on what we want to achieve over the two days. 0845h: Self-introductions (people say who they are and describe briefly their experience of HEC). 0915h: Introduction to “working group” approach by Simon, focussing on rules for working groups (e.g. people should take turns to talk and not interrupt other people, everybody’s opinion should be heard). Each group will have a team leader who will also act as a moderator. 0930h: Identification of themes for the first day’s working group discussions. (a) A brief review of issues that the group as a whole needs to be aware of and to take into account when dealing with assessing of mitigation methods and compiling a best practices document. This section will be important to the document but we need to decide if we wish to deal with it in the workshop or prior to the workshop. A discussion to agree on what should be considered a “best practice” in the context of HEC mitigation methods and elephant conservation will be part of this session. (b) Lists the mitigation methods that need to be reviewed and compiled into best practices document. Presentation: Giving an overview of issues that need to be considered to mitigate HEC in a meaningful and holistic manner. Review the causes and types of HEC situation– this will be brief as the basic purpose is to understand the causes for HEC and actual implications of these causes because that is what defines how we need to deal with HEC. This will not be a debate or discussion but rather a listing of the factors that need to be taken into account while assessing and addressing HEC. A significant part of this will be discussed between the Task Force and participants prior to the workshop so as not to waste time there. Causes Habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation – implications for conservation and HEC Opportunistic raiding Population (local overabundance) Behavioural aspects of HEC Social organisation and its implications for HEC (including male-female differences in raiding) Ranging behaviour and its implications for HEC Types of HEC situation (in the ranging/ecological/behavioural context) Large habitat patches (intact and fragmented; over 1000km2) Medium sized habitat patches (intact and fragmented; between 500 - 1000 km2) Small habitat patches (intact and fragmented; between 250 – 500 km2) Pocketed populations (intact and fragmented; less than 250 km2) Dispersing populations (occupying habitat newly colonized) Review extent/severity of HEC across Asia, paying attention also to the methods used to assess causes and extent/severity (e.g. was a systematic evidence-based approach used to assess HEC? This too needs to be discussed prior to the meeting – HEC (impact – severity) can be based on a range of variables; although ultimately all play a role but the question we need to ask ourselves is where we are going with this – as HEC needs to be addressed in an effective way irrespective of all else). We need to understand the implications of the following Economic losses Degrading of quality of life Threat to human lives Threat to elephant lives Frequency of raiding Peoples response to HEC Identify and review HEC mitigation measures in place in the different HEC situations (i.e. resident populations, dispersing populations, pocketed populations, etc.) Compile a list of mitigation methods used across Asia (by country, situation as above) Stopping creation of new HEC situations, stopping of escalating of existing situations (habitat and population related actions) Reversing causes for HEC (habitat related actions – restructuring land use; modifying manmade interventions within the habitat so as to reduce their adverse impact, etc.) MUST include restoration efforts. Containing HEC Guarding Barriers Deterrents (non-human objects – chemicals, lights, sound, etc) Removal of one of causes for HEC (crops, people or elephants) Removing crops: Alternate crops Removing people: Resettlement of villages or relocating agricultural areas Removing elephants: Capture, translocating and culling of elephants (managed local extinctions) Compensation Compensation for losses (including insurance) Improving the economic status of affected people so that they are more resilient to losses from HEC (alternate sources of income, enhancing income from existing sources of income, etc.) Policy guidelines that take into account the above three points (this is a critical issue/tool and needs to be addressed as it will drive HEC mitigation at the national level) Dealing with land use planning Dealing with the application of mitigation methods that deal with containing HEC and compensation Dealing with elephant population related issues (including problem elephants) Review all methods and compile a summary (list) of factors that contributed to (where relevant take into account country, cultures, situations, etc. Pay attention to the methods used to assess the effectiveness of the mitigation measures e.g. was a systematic evidence-based approach used?) Success of the method Failure of the method Cost-benefits Scalability (levels at which applicable - individual farm, village/community and landscape) Identify problems and suggest solutions. Compile a list of players in HEC mitigation and identify the scale of their inputs and constraints faced by them (this may overlap a bit with the section above but it needs direct inputs so that capacity issues and problems are dealt with detail in a single section rather than get repeated under all sections) People Government agencies NGOs/research institutes Identify the various levels at which HEC mitigation needs to be applied and what is needed at each level (national, landscape, habitat patch, village, individual farm level) Develop a document listing recommended best HEC management practices and keep that current on the IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group’s website as ‘a living document’. This will not only be a “best practices” but also a toolbox of processes which can be followed to find the most suitable tools for a given area which has differing issues (from politics to elephant demography). Basically all method work if conditions are right and all methods fail when conditions are not suitable for them. So a best management practices document in this case would have these steps (below) and it needs to function like a decision making tree that allows the user to look through and identify the particular HEC situation they face (or use the given tools to assess his situation) and then see the range of mitigation tools applicable to their situation, They would need to clearly understand what is needed to apply these tools and also how best they can be applied. They can review the potential problems or causes for failure and takes steps to avoid them. They also understand the need for monitoring and have the tools to do so. Identify the various levels at which HEC mitigation needs to be applied (at the policy, landscape, a habitat patch, village, individual farm level) Identify different types of HEC mitigation a) containing/reversing the roots cause for HEC which is habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation and sometimes local overabundance (stopping of new HEC situations, stopping escalating of existing HEC situations and reversing causes existing HEC situations or their intensity – this would also include resettlement of villages or removal of elephants) b) Containing existing HEC (barriers and deterrents, alternate crops, etc.) c) Compensation mechanisms (compensation, alternate sources of income, etc.) List the different approaches or methods that can be used to achieve the points listed above, namely stopping and reversing causes, containing HEC and compensation. Identifying when a particular method can be used - suitability or applicability to the given HEC situation type (assessment of the HEC situation: causes and intensity; elephant behaviour; peoples capacity; resources; etc.) Defining the process/technique for proper application of the method including variations in the basic model. Identify all the causes that lead to a failure of the method and how these can be overcome. 1030h: COFFEE BREAK. 1100h: Formation of working groups, identification of group leaders and reporters/note-takers. The number of groups will be decided in the morning sessions but we will try to limit group size to fewer than 8 individuals from a variety of backgrounds. Similarly the question of whether we will have multiple groups dealing with the same topic separately and the presenting independently to integrate in to the final living document will be discussed Review the causes for HEC and the types of HEC situations (if we take this as part of the workshop) – will need sub-groups. Best if left for the Wild elephant & elephant habitat management Task Force as they will be largely dealing with this issue and it calls for data that is more easily available with that group Stopping new HEC situations and escalating of existing ones through land use planning Reversing problems generated by poorly planned land use Containing HEC - needs to be split into sub-groups: a) Guarding, barriers and deterrents b) removal methods) Compensation Policy Other topics may be added and the above edited during the morning 9:30 session. group will have access to a projector, flip charts and white board and everyone is encouraged to bring their own laptops 1115: Working groups split-off and begin their discussions. 1200h: LUNCH. 1300h: Working groups continue their discussions. 14:45: Intermediate review (combined group) 1500h: TEA BREAK. 1530h: Working groups continue their discussions. this is a total of 5 hours of discussion it is imperative that all attendees go through the pre-arrival assignments 1730h: “Where are we up to?” session to make sure we are still on track and to highlight pressing tasks for day two. This will involve group leaders reporting on their group’s deliberations. 1830h: End of formal session for day 1. 1900h: DINNER. 19:00-19:30 - Workshop Committee and local coordinators meeting Day 2:Saturday 11th July 2009 0830h: Introduction to day two from Co-chairs/Ravi, focussing on what was achieved on day one and the identification of key tasks for day two. The key tasks will include the drafting of (1) recommended best practises for preventing, minimizing, and mitigating HEC in different situations (we should develop a list of definitions for this term before the workshop); and (2) identification of outstanding information and research needs. 0900h: Formation of new working groups to address the key tasks and to draft recommendations. 1030h: COFFEE BREAK. 1100h: Working groups continue their drafting work. 1200h: LUNCH. 1300h: Review of working groups’ progress and identification/discussion of any outstanding issues. Will involve group leaders reporting on their group’s deliberations. 1400h: Working groups continue their drafting work. 1500h: TEA BREAK. 1530h: Presentation of (1) draft recommended best practises for preventing, minimizing, and mitigating HEC based on situation;and (2) draft list of outstanding information and research needs. 1600h: Discussion of (1) draft recommended best practises for preventing, minimizing, and mitigating HEC based on situation;and (2) draft list of outstanding information and research needs. will also be on the USFWS/AsECF website and provide a link, as appropriate, so we can help in this effort as well. 1700h: Allocation of post-workshop tasks. These tasks will include identification of volunteers who will (1) finalize the draft recommended best practises for preventing, minimizing, and mitigating HEC based on situation; and (2) finalize the draft list of outstanding information and research needs. We will need to secure commitments to meet the deadlines we set. 1730h: Discussion of how to seek and manage reviews of the workshop’s recommendations documents, how to keep the final document up to date, and how to use the workshop and its products to inform governments, other policy makers, donors, and NGOs at both national and international levels (target agencies to include funding agencies like USAID, UNDP, AusAID, ADB, etc.). 1830h: Closing words from Co-chairs/Ravi. Distribution of questionnaire about suitable HEC-related roles for the AsESG and its HEC Task Force to participants. 19:00 Close of formal sessions for the day 19:00-19:30: Workshop Committee and local coordinators meeting 20:00h: DRINKS AND DINNER. Pre-workshop preparation that will be required of all participants A draft best practices outline will be circulated. Each participant must review this and prepare brief comments before the meeting. During the workshop participants will be asked for their suggestions regarding the document as this will be one of the main topics of discussion and indeed we will be preparing the first draft of the best practices document at the workshop. All participants must also review the World Bank’s HEC document and the IUCN Great Ape document which has a very well thought out structure which we can use as a base for our living document. If all participants complete this diligently before the workshop they will be in a better position to suggest which components of the document they think are helpful, and what concepts might be used as a basis to build on at the AsESG’s Beijing workshop.